


Edge of Reality

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Black Panther (2018), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF T'Challa (Marvel), Gen, I Don't Even Know, Memory Loss, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), T'Challa (Marvel) Feels, Tony Has Issues, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 07:45:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16635794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Tony- he still uses the name despite having no meaningful memory of it- sits behind a counter as the last employee leaves. Sometimes it’s awkward because it doesn’t come easy when you can’t remember who you are, but other times it feels like he’s getting close to being someone even if it’s not who he used to be.Original prompt: What if at the end of CA-CW Tony didn't make it back, what if he disappeared and one day in Germany T'Challa stumbled upon one Tony Stark begging for change going by the name not his and with no memory of life before waking up after the fight. T'Challa's heart breaks at the man before him and dose everything in his power to help him even if he never remembers, T'Challa can at least give him a life with love in it.





	Edge of Reality

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually like... super fond of how this came out?? There are some really good lines in here?? Anyways I hope y'all like it too.

Tony- he still uses the name despite having no meaningful memory of it- sits behind a counter as the last employee leaves. He’s here late, he’s always here late and his boss jokes that he works too hard but that’s not it at all. He just doesn’t have anywhere else to go and at least there’s human interaction here. Sometimes it’s awkward because it doesn’t come easy when you can’t remember who you are, but other times it feels like he’s getting close to being _someone_  even if it’s not who he used to be.

And truth be told he doesn’t think he likes who he used to be anyways. He’s seen all the news reels, the interviews, the articles on his work and his destruction and honestly the world is better off without Tony Stark in it. Now he’s faking being a German citizen, something that took a lot of work to falsify but technology comes easy to him even without his memories. Learning how various pieces of technology work is probably the easiest adjustment he’s had since he dragged his ass out of Russia. It’s everything else that took time, still takes time. He still isn’t totally sure what foods he likes, or what his political views are given how strangely wild his previous affiliations were. Frankly it seemed like he chose what was most convenient for him at the time.

Other things came easier- religion isn’t something he buys into still. If he has to hear another fucking Christmas song he’s going to throw himself out a window. But he doesn’t have a strange distain for it the way he had in his past life. Now he thinks its nice people have religion to build community and culture given how misplaced in the world he feels more often than not. Doesn’t mean he has to suffer the stupid songs though and thankfully his coworkers share that opinion. Most of them have worked jobs like his their whole lives and Tony doesn’t know how they do it. Its monotonous, boring. But better than being alone in his small, breezy apartment with nothing to do. Sometimes he’ll get invited out but he doesn’t usually go. He knows he used to be an alcoholic and probably had other addictions. Best not to test out if he still has addictive tendencies.

He’s considering closing early as the snow starts falling harder, people don’t usually travel as much in the snow, when someone bursts in unexpectedly. “Thank _Bast_ , please tell me you can fix this,” a man with a slightly familiar accent says and Tony frowns. He knows he’s heard it, but can’t remember where. Also, what the fuck is a Bast?

“Uh, let me see what it is,” he says and the man hands over a bracelet of all things and Tony frowns at it. He’s about to hand it back when he does something, he doesn’t even _know_  what, that causes a flickering image to appear of a black woman in orange. “I don’t even know what this is,” he murmurs more to himself than the man across the counter.

The man sighs, “it’s Wakandan- I would have gone somewhere else but everywhere around here is closed after six and- I can take that back,” he says, a little dejected but Tony hasn’t had a mystery to solve that wasn’t himself in a long time.

“Give me a few minutes,” he says, toying with the bracelet. He figures the beads out fast, learning that rotating them in certain ways led to certain commands like keyboard short cuts. Only the larger bead on the front of the bracelet has a specialized function- that’d been the one that had resulted in the woman in orange showing up. Tony determines its some kind of video call, though far more advance than anything he’s ever seen, including all his previous work.

“Pretty sure it has water damage,” he says eventually. Would explain all the problems its having though he can’t imagine how something this advance isn’t also waterproof.

The man across from him raises an eyebrow. “Water damage,” he says incredulously and Tony shrugs.

“Come in contact with any water lately?” he asks and a somewhat guilty expression flickers across his face.

“I am fairly certain that’s not it,” he says eventually and Tony shrugs, handing the bracelet back. There’s probably a good chance he’s wrong so what the hell. “You look familiar,” he says as he turns to leave, squinting at Tony.

Its not the first some someone has thought they recognized him so he’s not as thrown off guard. He shrugs, “I’ve never met you before in my life,” he says though, he realizes, that’s not quite true. The reason he seemed familiar- he’s the Wakandan prince. A god damn _prince_  decided to show up in some random electronics store. He knows at least five coworkers who have a crush on T’Challa. They’re all going to be pissed.

T’Challa doesn’t let it go as fast as Tony would expect- usually people are somewhat embarrassed when they discover he’s not who they think he is. T’Challa, though, doesn’t seem to share that sentiment. “No, I swear I’ve seen you before.”

He has, though Tony imagines he hadn’t paid much attention. His father had just died and Tony had been off finding random kids with superpowers, apparently. “Sorry, still don’t know who you are. Personally, anyways,” he adds when he notes T’Challa’s brief irritation. Though he shouldn’t be surprised- politicians aren’t very recognizable. More people probably know him as Black Panther. T’Challa doesn’t look like he believes that but he leaves and Tony goes back to doing not much of anything.

*

Tony Stark disappeared almost three years ago, never to be heard from again. If not for the lack of a body Steve probably would have thought he’d killed the man. T’Challa never bothered to point out that in that cold he probably did. The suit had been left behind with no Tony in it, which suggested he headed out into the cold. Stupid move for a genius, though T’Challa supposes he might have been in shock and therefore made some bad decisions because of it. He’s always been under the impression that Tony Stark died in the snow in Russia. And even if Russian officials found him he’s not certain, considering the country’s current state of politics, that they would tell anyone about it.

But then he’d walked into a small electronics shop in Germany- he _needed_  those beads fixed- and there he was. At first he’d only struck T’Challa as somewhat familiar, but then he’d started putting all the similar things together. But when Tony said he’d never seen him in person he was telling the truth- T’Challa would be able to tell if he were not. So he’d doubted himself until he started digging into it, unable to let it go and needing a distraction from Wakanda arguing about immigration. Again. Still, actually.

Anyone who wouldn’t know better wouldn’t have suspected anything amiss, but T’Challa happens to be quite aware of how to digitally falsify a life. They do it for War Dogs all the time. What’s strange though is that Tony makes no effort to connect with anyone in his past life, doesn’t at all connect with his previous resources, doesn’t seem to have anything at all to do with his past and with what motive? He doubts the man enjoys working in a small electronics shop so much he chose to no longer be a billionaire. His salary puts him barely above the poverty line now and T’Challa knows that’s not a comfortable way to live. Wakanda has sorted through those sorts of problems too.

Point is he has no idea why Tony would give up his whole life, one that was far more affluent and privileged, for the one he has now. It makes no sense.

*

Tony doesn't want or need T’Challa to come back but he does, twice, and frankly the man is good. Tony can’t just deny his digital trail is made up when T’Challa is obviously able to point out that it is so he tells him that he’s right and then tells him to leave him be. “Why?” T’Challa asks and Tony frowns.

“‘Why’ what?” he asks.

“Why would you leave everything in your life behind for this?” he asks, gesturing around.

He shrugs, “I can’t even remember my old life and I sound like a fucking asshole. Why would I want to go back to that?” he asks. He turns to leave but T’Challa speaks again.

“Your team misses you,” he says and Tony rolls his eyes.

“All the did was fight with me, quite publicly at that. They don’t miss me. No one does.” And that’s the way he likes it.

*

He doesn’t god damn need T’Challa’s help but when he sends Tony some encrypted information he’s only able to hold himself back for a day and a half before curiosity gets to him. He’s long ago learned that he likes puzzles and encryptions are the best kind of puzzles so he sets to cracking it. When it only takes him three hours to figure it out he gets annoyed but sends the files back to T’Challa. He gets a small note from some other random person about being a slow poke and he frowns.

*

Almost two days- Shuri is offended that Tony took so long to get back. T’Challa had been _sure_  it was really him but she thinks the actual Tony Stark would have been much faster. Its not like he’s never broken an encryption before she can’t imagine that a head injury would keep him from knowing how to engineer. She’s sure it wouldn’t bar her from her knowledge of how things work.

When she gets an email back saying that it only took three hours, he just hadn’t wanted to involve himself in this business, she rolls her eyes and sends back:

 _Sure_.

*

Tony doesn’t mean to make friends with the Wakandan princess, but with Wakanda attesting to enter world politics and HYDRA on the rise the country is defensive, convinced that HYDRA will invade them too so she keeps sending him HYDRA files to crack. None of them take long minus what she sends on the Winter Soldier. That’s a slow going process but they’ve all heard about the trial and they’ve heard even more about Steve Rogers flipping out about it. 

Something about it rubs Tony the wrong way but he doesn’t understand what and without that he mostly just dismisses the feeling. He’s learned long ago that he doesn’t like people like Steve Rogers anyways. Righteous to the point of stepping all over you and claiming that was righteous too. He’s met a few irritating coworkers like that.

Shuri sends him things regularly though, acting as the go-between between him and T’Challa. Most of what he finds is utterly useless to Wakanda but, according to Shuri, works to calm the country down some. Tony has no idea what that looks like but he takes her word for it.

When he gets an email to work through more of the Winter Soldier files he’s confused given that that has little to do with Wakanda, but starts on them anyways.

*

T’Challa reads the files bleary eyed and jet legged but someone has to do it. He’s got questions for Tony, ones he doesn’t want to send through Shuri, so he makes his way to Germany. Tony is obviously surprised to see him and probably more surprised by his guard but T’Challa is too tired for formalities. “What is this nonsense about Hitler’s attempts to break into Wakanda during World War Two? Wakanda has no record of that,” he says.

Tony raises an eyebrow and steps aside, letting him in. Okoye and Ayo follow after him silently. “Then you need to look again,” he says, earning a sharp look from Ayo. T’Challa gives her a warning glance because he doesn’t need her extremism on the job. Neither does Okoye. “I’ve got detailed records and stuff that I’ve intentionally tried to match to literally any African country. Nothing fits so I figured the artifacts must've been Wakandan,” Tony says. He digs around in a mess of files that makes T’Challa’s head hurt looking at and makes a pleased noise when he finds what he’s looking for. “Here,” he says, handing over a file.

Ayo is at his side faster than Okoye, crowding into his space to see what Tony has found. And he has, indeed, found something. A plane that had gone missing during the war, its a Wakandan conspiracy now, and apparently Nazis got ahold of it. He frowns because that can’t be right, but no one else even knows planes like this existed in Wakanda. And the other artifacts- some clothing, a mining axe, and a rhino tusk are all unmistakably Wakandan. “When was this?” he asks Tony.

He shrugs, “early forties, I think. Could have been ‘39. The dates are in there somewhere.” Still within the years T’Challa combed through and its not like his search wasn’t thorough.

“Ayo, look into my grandfather. Something isn’t adding up,” he says. She takes the file and nods, leaving the apartment fast. Okoye gives him a _look_  and he sighs. “Well all know he was a tyrant. It would not be surprising to find out he rewrote history a little,” he says.

“You think the guy worked with Nazis?” Tony asks, confused.

T’Challa lets out a loud snort, “don’t be absurd. I find the idea of black people cooperating with white supremacists as strange as the idea of white supremacists cooperating with black people. But if those Nazis did make it past the boarder, and the evidence suggests they did, then they must have taken something worth covering up.”

Tony sighs, “well, there were a lot of rumors of Nazis with tech no one else understood. Think it could be connected?” he asks.

He wants to say no, but there is a very real possibility that there is a connection.

*

T’Challa reads through Tony’s files both digital and not. “You know your sister could probably get into this stuff faster than I can, right?” he asks. “Why not just get her to do it?”

T’Challa looks up from the file in his hands. “She’s sixteen and there are some rather horrific human experiments in these files. I don’t want her reading this,” he says.

Sixteen year olds are tougher than they look, all children are- its adults that are weak. But Tony doesn’t tell him that mostly because these files are a series of floating question marks and no one likes reading surprise human torture. Or surprise anything torture. “Well she’s reading it all anyways, she’s the one I’m talking to,” he points out and T’Challa shakes his head.

“The files go straight to me. Obviously she could get to whatever she wants to if she felt like it but she leaves them alone. She’s the one talking to you because she has more free time in a day to check where your progress is,” he says.

That makes sense, he supposes. “Oh. Well, since you’re here I got into a bunch of those Winter Soldier files but I have to warn you the shit they did to that guy...” he shakes his head. He stopped reading after he’d gotten through thirty pages of a seventy page document and even then he’d pushed himself through a good half of that before he couldn’t stomach it.

T’Challa nods. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

*

Ayo returns with information that T’Challa knows is accurate if for no other reason than her harsh fear of foreigners. She’d be more motivated than Okoye to dig as deep as possible and when T’Challa starts going through the information to ensure its accurate he’s not impressed with what he finds. He does, however, thanks to Tony know that the rumors that the stocks on that plane- one that was meant to supply War Dogs- were destroyed they mostly were. There is evidence for that in Wakandan texts despite how dig Ayo had to go to find them, and the Nazis also reported the weapons were destroyed.

Not, of course, before they got ahold of just enough of the science to make them dangerous though.

*

Tony is at work trying to properly stock shelves when T’Challa walks in. “I need you,” he says and Tony frowns and looks down.

“Uh. I’m at work,” he says stupidly.

“You can take me,” Lana says from across the room, looking T’Challa up and down. T’Challa frowns and then turns back to Tony.

“This is urgent,” he says.

Tony sighs, “finding out your grandfather sucks and accidentally slipped some science to Nazis is not an emergency, T’Challa.”

T’Challa makes an irritated noise and Lana looks confused. “You know what,” T’Challa murmurs. “You are coming with me,” he says, plucking Tony off his ladder and walking away with him regardless of his yelping to be freed.

*

Steve looks at him like he’s seen a ghost but Tony ignores him. He doesn’t even know him. Rhodey, however, is clinging on to him bawling his eyes out and Tony doesn’t remember him either, but feels compelled to comfort him anyways. Bucky looks uncomfortable but more alive and put together than any man in his position should be.

Off to the side a red head gives him a stiff look and Tony knows she knows him well because she’s got red rimmed eyes but she’s holding herself together much better than Rhodey. “Is... there a reason why I’m here?” he asks eventually, looking to T’Challa.

He nods. “The courts here are trying to dismiss the evidence you found due to lack of credibility. If they knew it was you who found it...”

Tony is already shaking his head though. “I told you I wanted nothing to do with that life,” he says. “So why the hell did you drag me back into it?” He doesn’t mean for it to come out as angry as it does but he’s pissed, damnit. He was _fine_  in Germany until a fucking freak encounter ruined everything.

Rhodey pulls back from him. “What are you talking about?” he asks, voice stronger than Tony would have anticipated it being given the tears running down his face.

“I mean I don’t even know you, I don’t know any of you. I don’t even know _me_  and I don’t fucking want to either. I sound horrible, the rest of you sound horrible. Get Shuri to tell the fucking courts _she_  found it investigating HYDRA files after finding some weird shit in Wakandan history around World War Two or something, I don’t care. But I’m not doing this,” he says, pulling himself totally free of Rhodey before turning on his heel.

T’Challa blocks his way. “You can’t run from your past forever. It will catch up with you eventually. You have to know that.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “I’m in a room full of my past and the guy who dragged my ass back into it. It’s already caught up.” He side steps T’Challa and walks away.

*

Rhodey finds him easily with T’Challa’s information and when Tony opens the door he rolls his eyes. “I found you in the middle of a fucking desert after looking for three months and if you think your pasty ass can hide from me now that I know there’s a you to look for you have got _another_  thing coming,” Rhodey tells him. “I don’t know what the hell happened to you and Steve isn’t talking, but I’m assuming you sustained a head injury of some kind given the memory loss. But since you don’t know who you are I’ll show you. The _real_  you, not that bullshit facade you threw on for the media.”

Sensing, Rhodey guesses, that he’s not going anywhere Tony steps aside and lets him in. “Is this the moment where you tell me you get used to the way I was? Because that’s really only saying you get used to me being an asshole.”

He sighs, “look Tony, you have a million personality flaws and a big ass brain. Sometimes they don’t combine well. But what the media shows of you isn’t even close to who you are. Shit, they don’t even portray Steve right and they actually like him.”

Granted that’s because they spin everything he does as some kind of righteous patriotic duty thing but that’s here nor there. The point is that when someone is on the outside looking in with no real desire to capture the image they see it obviously comes out distorted. Tony sighs. “Fine, show me what kind of sunshine and rainbows person I was,” he mumbles. 

Tony has never been sunshine and rainbows so Rhodey tells him that first. He’s always been more like an ocean- always in motion, full of life, and fucking devastating when the conditions are right. And there are reasons for it, and sometimes no reasons at all aside from Tony being a human being who, like every human on the planet, makes bad choices. He explains Howard’s abuse, Tony’s addictions, the way he spiraled into trying to be the mirror image of the expectations he’s always been forced to live up to and how he never was any good at it because Tony isn’t a ruthless business mogul with no conscience. Even at his worst, and Rhodey tells him that was pretty bad, he freely told people he wasn’t comfortable with it. That he got a reputation, they’re easy to get, and he didn’t know how to lose it. He felt trapped.

Then he tells Tony about all the things no cameras caught. How when Rhodey’s mom died he paid for her funeral, arranged the whole thing and didn’t even tell him about it until it was done. How he always stuck up for Rhodey when they were in school- usually it was racism he ended up calling out, but Rhodey had been something of a geek too. Before that was the new cool and honestly kids these days have it too good now that dungeons and dragons isn’t something that people would claim makes you a virgin for life. But Tony hadn’t cared because he valued Rhodey’s intelligence, his personhood.

He tells Tony about the way he overhauled his company, how the first thing he did was ensure that workers weren’t being fucked by his business plans. Tony had told him that they didn’t deserve to suffer because he was in the wrong so he made sure he took care of them the best he could. Most made it through the transition. He tells Tony about Pepper, how two of them met and he’d hired her not just because of her credentials, but because she had been unafraid to call him out. That, despite his very many flaws, he’s always wanted to be held responsible for his actions in some way shape or form. So sure, the media might crucify him but that's because no one ever really has the full story of anyone’s every day choices. And also because American media in particular fucking sucks, not that international countries are doing a whole lot better.

“Wow, I was a complicated person. Still sound like a jackass,” Tony says and Rhodey pinches the bridge of his nose.

“How the fuck it is that you lose all memories of who you are but you still manage to remember how much you hate yourself? Why the hell couldn’t that have been knocked out of your head?” he asks.

*

T’Challa hadn’t anticipated Rhodey’s harsh clinging to Tony the way he had but he does manage to drag him kicking and screaming back into his own life. Privately, because Tony wants nothing to do with the public, and in a way that at least gives the HYDRA files on Bucky credibility without T’Challa having to add yet _another_  thing to his plate thankfully.

That does not mean that Tony is happy with him though. “You should have left me alone,” he tells him.

Maybe. “I know you’re upset. I think you’ve earned it, given the amount of responsibility I’ve accidentally heaped onto you. But if I hadn’t done it someone else would have. No one gets to walk away from their history whether they remember it or not.” He wishes he could- from his grandfather’s legacy, the recent atrocities he’s discovered  _his_  father committed. People cannot outrun the past when the past has an infinite amount of time to catch up. Best to make peace with it, acknowledge it so you can move on.

Tony crosses his arms over his chest and glares away. “I didn’t want to walk away from my history- I don’t even _remember_  my history. I just wanted to write a new path.”

T’Challa sighs. Tony and everyone else in the world. He reaches out and tilts Tony’s head up. “You are a survivor, Tony. You have lived through conditions far harsher than what’s happening now. You will get through this too.”

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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